


Ring Around the Noctis

by eveshka



Series: Tales of the Dawn King [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 20:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10474227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveshka/pseuds/eveshka
Summary: Hell with his pocket. The Ring of Lucis was burning a hole in his soul.For demishock's prompt





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [demishock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/demishock/gifts).



> Rating: G  
> Warnings: None  
> Characters: Noctis Lucis Caelum, Ignis Scientia  
> Time Period: Chapter 10, before Cartanica  
> Location: The Train

In all the years Ignis Scientia had spent overseeing Noctis, one of the things he’d lamented the most was the prince’s abject inability to lock a door. Bedroom, apartment, car... even bathroom stalls. Noctis had simply disregarded any thought of security or privacy granted by barring a door. So when the door to Noctis’ sleeping suite on the train remained firmly shut, Ignis was stunned into silence for precisely six heartbeats.

As he fished in his pocket for the key that Prompto had pressed into his hand earlier, Ignis heard an odd metallic sound repeating, as if something was bouncing along, or being bounced. It wasn’t quite dropped, and it wasn’t a rattle either. Cling-cling-cling-cling. -pause- Cling-cling-cling-cling. -pause- Cling-cling-cling-cling.

His fingers finally untangled the key from the satin lining and Ignis unlocked the door, rapping it slightly with the head of his cane before opening the door. “Of all the times to start locking your door, Noctis, you choose now? I hear a peculiar sound; what are you doing?” It was louder inside the room, and Ignis was certain that Noctis was the source of the sound.

There was a momentary and extra pause, and then the sound started up again. “Sorry. Nothing. Thinking. Damnit, Ignis, I don’t know.” The young man’s voice was strained, tinted with emotions that Ignis wasn’t accustomed to hearing in the other’s speech.

It made strange things happen in Ignis’ stomach, and he pushed away his own feelings in an effort to help Noctis with his. “Care to explain, Noct?” He carefully maneuvered his way towards the sound, still attempting to identify it as he moved. Metal. On something hard. A table? Beside the chair by the window? Small, though not heavy enough to be a gil coin, though he vaguely recalled a game Prompto and Noctis had cooked up between them for sliding coins back and forth at each other.

Wait. No. Ignis suddenly knew precisely what that was, what that sound was, and the only thing it truly could have been, once he’d given it thought. Noctis was dropping his ring, letting it bounce against the table, only to take it back up and repeat the action. The King of Lucis was bouncing the Ring of the Lucii on the table like a toy. The King of Lucis. _The Ring of the Lucii._

Ignis slapped his hand out, catching the ring on a bounce and slamming it under his palm against the table. His cane collided with the edge of the table, bouncing off and barking against his shins. He didn’t care. The ring that they had fought for, paid entirely too much for… bounced against the table like a child’s toy. It took twenty-seven entirely too fast heartbeats before Ignis could speak. “If its presence means so little to you, perhaps it would be better in my possession.”

“No!” The word tore itself from Noctis with anguish, silenced by a strangled sound that resembled a hiccup. Ignis knew that sound all too well from the days when Noctis was young and nightmares plagued his heart. “Don’t touch it. Don’t… _don’t_.” Noctis’ hands moved to lift Ignis’ and remove the ring from his touch, speaking in a whisper. “The power hurts me, but it would kill you.”

Ignis had known the Ring contained power, but King Regis had said nothing about the Ring hurting him in any of his briefings, not that Ignis had expected the King to indicate anything of the sort. He would have thought Regis would warn him if he’d thought the Ring would harm Noctis, so this was news to him. “Noct, what do you mean the power hurts you?”

“When I try to put it on, I get it part of the way on my finger and it burns, pain coursing up my arm like flames. I can’t breathe, and I’m…” There was a long pause, long enough for Ignis to pat his way around and sit beside Noctis on the bed. “I’m afraid, Ignis. So many people died for this ring… am I the next?”

“Nonsense,” Ignis replied, reaching to rest a hand on Noctis’ arm. “You are Noctis Lucis Caelum, son of Regis, King of Lucis and that is _your ring_. It’s not just symbolic power, Noct, and I’d surmise that is what you can feel. I doubt that it will harm you; rather that it’s so much more power than you are accustomed to that it would take time to adjust. Like a new pair of shoes.” Ignis did try to ignore the fact that he’d just compared the second most powerful artifact in Lucis to new shoes. Truly he did.

Noctis snorted softly, and Ignis could feel the shift in the room. He knew, without being able to see, that Noctis’ shoulders had loosened, that his chin wasn’t quite so close to his chest. Years of interaction filled in where vision failed, and Ignis recalled all too clearly how Noctis moved. The prince had sulked with his whole body, and Ignis had little doubt the king did the same.

The train bumped along the track, and Ignis swayed with the movement a little more than he might have, had he still gripped his cane, and he felt Noctis bring an arm around him to steady him. “Easy, hang on.” Noctis moved, and then Ignis felt the cane against his fingers. “There you go, Ignis, sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for, Noct. Trains shift and sway along the tracks. It is something I shall have to take into account while aboard.” Ignis gripped the cane lightly in one hand and extended his hand towards Noct, palm up. “If you would, Noct?” He waited, expectantly, and then felt the hesitant press of cool metal against his palm.

The ring felt no different from any other Ignis had held. The weight was proper, and as he carefully closed his fingers around the ring, he felt nothing other than a cleverly crafted bit of metal in his hand. If it had magic or power, that was locked from his sense. With a vague shrug, he opened his hand again, offering the ring back. “To me, it is just jewelry, though I suspect that is as it should be, Noct. My offer to keep it in trust stands.”

“Would you? At least for tonight? I don’t… I can’t sleep. With it. It’s… too much power,”  Noctis said quietly, and Ignis nodded to his king, folding his hand once more around the metal. “Just be careful… not to put your finger in it.”

“A moment, Noct.” Ignis said, carefully extending the ring back to Noctis and feeling the younger man take it. After Ignis was certain that Noctis had the ring, he moved to reach into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief, and offering it. “Wrap the ring in this, and that will prevent any accidents. It would be unfortunate indeed should I put my hand in my pocket and encounter the ring.”

After a moment of movement, the fabric parcel was passed back to Ignis and he pocketed the bundle. He did not need to be able to see in order to put his hand on Noctis’ arm and pat gently. “Get some rest, Noct. I’ll come round with some food later.” He rose, flicked the cane experimentally around, and then moved towards the door. As his hand found the handle, he heard Noct’s quiet voice thanking him, and he gave his customary nod, then departed.


End file.
